Taking Submissions: Black Buttons Volume 3

February 16, 2018

Ah, the Midwest. We are people of the earth, who roll up our sleeves and do what need’s doing. We deliver an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, we try to give gratitude for the simple things- our health, the love of family and friends, and humility is no stranger to us, because the taller you think you are, well, the farther you have to fall on your face. We like to help other people when we can, whether it’s with some sweat, or just a smile, because you should treat others the way you want to be treated. .

Not a bad place to raise a family, right?

Dig a little deeper, because all is not right where the bible belt buckles. That’s where the Black Buttons series of short stories anthologies plants its speculative fiction seeds- the fertile “what if” soil of the Midwestern Ethos. If Stephen King can make Maine a horror-ble place to live, we can do the same for the heartland.

For Black Buttons Vol. 3, we’re looking for Midwestern themed horror and dark fiction- but with a family-related motif. Siblings, parents, grandparents, children, cousins, married “kin”- you name it. Even brothers and sisters in a college’s greek system, or in a trade or labor union. Think of the ties that bind us…and then twist’em good and hard.

WHAT WE WANT: We love stories that have characters with whom we can connect. Nobody’s perfect, and few bad people are 100% bad. Give us a story to follow, and someone we hate to lose, or love to hate. It could even have a “happy” ending, or be funny. Just help us connect with the characters, and thereby we can be interested in what happens to them (you know, the plot). Feel free to explore your style, to surprise us, to be as lyrical or gritty as you wish.

Sorry, no simultaneous or multiple submissions.

LENGTH: 2000-6000 words. Might have a few stories longer- but only from authors whom we’ve already asked to do so.

WHAT WE DON’T WANT:

*stories revolving around incest

*stories that hate on the Midwest. Don’t have to love it here, but if you can’t stand the place, might want to send that story to a more metropolitan anthology.

*splatterpunk/hardcore horror/torture porn

*stories revolving explicitly around a woman getting brutalized by (your bad guy here). There’s enough boring, ugly, uninteresting horror like this in the world. Besides, it would fall under torture porn, and ain’t nobody got time for that.

*reprints. Give us your fresh stuff.

WHAT WE PAY: Magnificent Cowlick Media LLC pays fifty dollars plus a contributor’s copy, for worldwide first electronic and first print English-language rights, the non-exclusive right to reproduce the author’s work in the anthology, and non-exclusive rights to include the story in e-book formats and an audio book of the anthology.

PREFERRED FORMAT: I totally stole most of this from “letswriteashortstory.com”, because they laid it out simple and easy:

*Write your name, address, phone number, and email address in the top left corner of page 1.

*Include the word count in top right corner.

*12-point, times new roman font.

*Double-space.

* 1-inch margins.

*Include the title of your story and your author name ½ of the way down the first page.

*Indent your paragraphs (like a book). Don’t use line breaks (like a blog).

*Include a top-header with your last name, the abbreviated story title (no more than 3 or 4 words), and the page number in top right corner, beginning on page 2.

*Use a pound sign (#) to separate any line breaks.

Submissions accepted through 2/16/2018. All responses should be done by 3/15/18. Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources to supply critiques with any rejections. Just know that we truly, TRULY appreciate your efforts, and don’t take the decision-making process lightly. We’re writers too, and we get it.